Monday, September 27, 2010

I'm a bit nervous for a trial. Last week, I was involved with a light traffic accident. Both drivers were safe. So, I made the quick watercolor above to relax myself. Here's the lovely blog "Twenty Minutes Challenge" that encourages us. Thanks millions for your cheers.Back to the topic, sketching older people.

I'm definitely old. "When I was born on the earth, I saw dinosaurses walking around my house," is the answer for people bravely ask me an age. Ah, what a brave new world?! After a big laugh, no one repeats the question.

To little friends, I tell, "I cannot count more than two. One, two...many... I'm more than two," with my fingers. Then, children seriously and proudly begin to teach me how to count. I happily listen to them.

Physically, getting old is natural, after we are born. No objection. But it is questionable that society tends to weigh on something young and mass media often focus on young people only.

I believe aging is beautiful and the wonderful adventure, because I meet new Sadami day by day. Exciting.

Apart from a physical age, I have my own scale to measure a age.The question is, "Do you have a dream (struggling for)?"If "yes," in my eyes, a person is young.

I have many nice friends in physically old people pursuing their dreams. They are enjoying volunteer work, tertiary education, art, hobbies, church activities, whatever. They are shining.

Indeed, another key factor to remain young is having human interactions with others in society. It gives us the meaning of life, rewards, healthy pride and nice smiles, above all, love.None of my older friends is a complainer about society or life. Great. I admire them with my heart....and they look younger than their real age!

Of drawing and painting, technically, cheeks and neck muscles can illustrate ages more than wrinkles. Regarding hands, wrinkles and joints tell life long stories. Like Irina asked me, I will organize sketches of hands one day.

Our lives are like comets in this universe. It lasts only for a moment. But I know, each of us is a shining "STAR" in a unique way for the universe.I want to accomplish my role in society!!

I'd like to send you my favorite song, Joan Baez, "Forever Young." (*Friends, do ye kne I play guitar and sing!)So, a paradox. As long as I pursue a dream, I'm young!Happy painting, Friends!Let us stay young forever!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Thank you for nice comments and kind visits for my blog.A bit hectic. I've got another project and many things happen at once. Slow down, Sadami.

Now, let me have a chat over men, this week.

Some say,"Boys will be boys." Others say "...will be toys."(What a brave girl! Not me!) Anyway, sketching men is fun. Honest, I still cannot tell how to make a male face in general.

By the way, finding a male life drawing model seems to be hard. Have you ever tried many male models?This model was an armature. That night, our professional life drawing model was gone! So, an organizer set a carrot, cash, "$50" for an hour. Brave and lucky two guys got the money for beer.

An old man model, I came across, only once. The work below is my favorite. Always the beauty of a human body takes me into a heaven during life drawing.

...well, in my mind, I'm secretly guessing that men might be much shyer than us, girls.

In my eyes, a male face has rigid mountains and deep valleys. Unlike a female, his face often tells me physical strength and hardiness. Of course, individual discrepancies are huge. Too much generalization is out of mark. Beyond or beneath a face, I feel something unique and put it down on paper. I do not know how to say it in language.

So, at the end, I always feel probably, men and women are much closer or more similar than we expect ;-).But also I wonder, a man and a woman are calling for each other, standing back to back on the earth...

Friday, September 17, 2010

I wanted to show children that picture books=art is universal language. My original watercolors, quickies, a compact paint kit and Arche papers fascinated the kids and the teachers so much. In a few minutes, I made drawings of one child and a teacher by a pencil. Our table was full of "Ohhhh," "Waah!" and laugh. (I put on my fool's cap, but the little boy took it! Ahahaha!)

I also made "origami birds(=Japanese paper folding craft)" for kids and teachers. They followed me. Actually, a bird can move wings like flying. Children liked it! I wanted them to fly into their "bright future."

After the lunch, children freely came to any author and illustrator to get signatures. I found handouts did not print my face photo(I assume I was a new participant this year). So, I quickly added a cartoon Sadami waving at kids with words, "Love and Hope!" Kids loved my cartoon and made a long queue.

"A word, "Triumph" consists of two parts, Kids. 'Try' and a little bit 'umph!' and you will get it. Don't give up your dream. Please make your dream come true," I added.

(*Australian top writers and illustrators. Amazing... I was put on the stage...) You see how passionately children taking photos of us... Indeed, we are super heroes for them. I felt my responsibility as an artist.

I hope one day, children will look back this day and this memory will help them get through a stormy time. Children, you deserve to be happy and loved.I'd really appreciate an organizer Michael's hard work and other backstage players efforts for the event. Thank you for giving me the great opportunity to share time with kids. Ah! What a wonderful feeling!! How nice and what a blessing that I'm a picture book illustrator!!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Well, I've been busy with sketching landscapes on a project, which involves copyrights.I'm struggling to make better work to submit. I'm in a slump right now... sigh...I hope I can get out of it...Chin up, Sadami!!Back to this week subject, "women."

By the way, how do you start drawing figures?My drawing might be very different.I do not start with a face line. Never.

I start drawing eyes and a nose. Or if anything interests me such as a hand, hair, whatever, I start from there. A face line always comes nearly at the end. Get surprised? It's not a good idea for me to fix down a face line at the beginning, as my model is moving around = face muscles are active from moment to moment.Also, it depends on a face expression, my angle is flexible from 45degrees to 90degrees during sketching(yes, I hang around a model). As long as one eye is done accurately, I can easily change a portfolio into a whole face.With only a few lines for an eye, I can tell the work goes well or becomes a junk. Quickly sketched eyes and a nose always also tell me a female or a male. At that stage, if a mistake happens on a gender, make-up will be impossible. So, eyes and a nose are critically important for me.

I often draw a body and a face together, in parallel.A woman's beautiful body proportion is well-known. When I do life drawing, I feel awe and very happy...and I have the one!!

In my eyes, anyone has beauty. I want to pull it out from a person and express it on paper.

Mass media and our sociocultural criterion set who is beautiful. But an individual is different. Impossible and absurd to compare the beauty of violets with roses. If someone says red is more beautiful than purple, it is pointless. In a world, all colors are needed, all flowers are precious and so we are.Be "what I am, what I can be most," leads to beauty.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Gestures carry messages. Pantomime is a sophisticated art. My belief, "Smile,"....and "Money" is a universal language...;-) ?!? Now, you are a detective to nab body language and break codes! DON'T draw all what you can see. Capture "what impresses you most" on paper. Step1. Whole or Part of Body?Define which part of body speaks.Hands? Feet? Torso? What else? A whole body?a) Part of BodyIf so, practice drawing specific parts only, is a good idea!Probably, hands are very "chatty," apart from a face. Hands tell gender, age, occupation, emotion etc, etc.

So, I often sketch hands with a face. In the left quick drawing, hands are main. In the second one, a face was a subordinate subject added later, even though the model was for life drawing.b) Whole BodyIf a whole body conveys a message, need to capture a movement. In Part One, I talked of how to catch movement. Enjoy quick drawings in 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes etc. Make lots of stick figures to record movements in a moment.

Step 2. Emphasize ValueMake a drama. Before forgetting the impression, quickly pin it down for drawing. Exaggerate value--is effective for watercolor painting. 2 ways colour settings : same color or several colors.a) Several Colour UseMixing Colours for Dark&Contrast.Opposite colors make a strong contrast in a picture. So, I often use opposite or opposite-like colors for darks. b) One colourSimple and often convinces viewers. Depends on a colour choice, a single colour often makes very attractive and sophisticated works.

Technical advice. If you use only one color, just put it again on a dark area. A second stroke darkens there and save time.Step 3. Celebrate your work.Have fun with your model, friends, family!If your model gets upset, if your model is very happy---both mean your work hit spots! A very famous British watercolorist said, "I lose friends...when I make their portraits."Please tell your model, "Oh, you do not know National Art Gallery will collect my work...in the future," with a biiiiiig wink.

Be brave. In my experience, people love quickies and turn a blind eye to my sketches. This gentleman and I were on a train. He was having very late lunch after a looong day... but my sketch brought him and all the people a smile in the cart. I really appreciated his big heart to enjoy my work. Yey!!Now, did you enjoy becoming a detective of body language and will you try it? I sincerely hope so.

From a next week, I'll chat over how to sketch adults (male, female),children and old people. If you'd like to know something more or other stuff, please leave a comment. But I'm getting busy with work and preparation for annual exhibitions. If I just upload sketches, oh, darrrrling, please do not forsake me!

If my tiny posts give you some hints and joy of art, I would be so happy. Let us say, "Cheers!"In addition, while I was sketching a beer tap, anyone wanted to look at it in a pub. The only shame was my courteous decline of an offered beer... Otherwise, another non-existing tap should have been added on that picture?!Friends, happy painting ... and happy drinking!! Thanks millions for your support and interest in this blog.

About Me

Award winning fine artist, enthusiastic children's picture book illustrator, portraitist and event/conference sketcher, Sydney based. Greatest strength: "Empathic portraits". Spontaneous and beautiful. Outstanding speed and accuracy. In only a few minutes, my quick portraits capture models in any posture with any facial expression on spot. Figures appear lively and emotionally. My linguistic training enables me to analyse the text in detail and organise appropriate story boards for the target audience. Sociological methods and research skills are used to capture insights from a text. The work bridges between a text, reality and imagination. Style is broad from whimsical cartoons to fine art for multifarious subjects. Japanese naitve speaker. Enjoy my works in StyleFile